Motor apparatus.



C. A. MILLER.

MOTOR APPARATUS.

APPUCATION FILED Mms. 1916.

1,199,807. Patented oct. 3,1916.

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FHI-.1

WITNESSES INVENTOR C. A. MILLER.

MOTOR APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 8, Isls.

1,199,807'. PaJIenIed OCI. 3,1916.

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CALVIN A. MILLER, 0F ELLSWORTH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR 0F ONE-FOURTH T0 WESLEY H. BECK, AND ONE-FOURTH TO WILLIAM E. LAI-IM, BOTI-I OE ELLSWORTI-I, PENNSYLVANIA, AND ONE-FOURTH TO WILSON A. LUCE, OF'SEWICKLEY, PENN- SYLVANIA.

MOTOR APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Get. 3, 1916.

Application led Mar-ch 8, 1916. Serial No. 82,817.

To all 'whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, CALVIN A; MILLER, residing at Ellsworth, in the county of Washington and State of Pennsylvania, a citizen of the United States, have invented or discovered certain new and useful Improvements in Motor Apparatus, of which improvements the following is a spec iication.

My invention relates to motor apparatus; it is of general applicability, but it has been developed by me in the automatic operation of gates in elevator shafts in coal mines, and it will be described by me in that particular application.

The object in View is to maintain the motor'operative at all times, even though eX posed to freezing atmospheric conditions, and in consequence to insure proper operation of the gates, to the end that accidents in these shafts shall be avoided and the requirements of the law in the matter of safety be fully met.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings of which Figure l is a view in side elevation showing a gate in position at the upper end of a mine shaft, and showing also in diagrammatic manner the automatic gate-shifting mechanism to which my invention is applied. Figs. 2 and 3 are views in longitudinal section, the one a vertical section and the other a horizontal section, and on much larger scale, of the valve mechanism in which my invention centers. Figs, 4 and 5 are fragmentary views in longitudinal section through cylinder 3, showing a by-pass through or around piston 4.

Referring first to the general view of Fig. l, the mine shaft isl indicated at l. The cage is not shown, but it will be understood that the cage travels vertically-in the shaft and comes to position for loading and unloading at the top of the shaft. 2 isthe gate which controls access tothe shaft and to the cage when it comes to position' at the top of the shaft. The gate is shown in full lines in its-normal closed'position and in dotted lines in its elevated position, the position it takes when the cage is at the top of the shaft.

A fluid pressure cylinder 3 contains a piston 4, and in response to the movement of this piston the gate is raised from the full line position shown in Fig. l, that is the closed position, to the dotted-line'position. The return of the gate to closed position is effected by gravity when iuid pressure within the cylinder is relieved, and accordingly bu'er springs 5 are provided to cushion the descent of the gate. Fluid pressure is carried to the cylinder 3 through a suitable pipe 6. The fluid preferably used is steam. At a convenient point in the fluid pressure line 6, and in a suitable relative position to the shaft to accomplish the ends about to be, described, is arranged a valve chest 7 shown in greater detail in Figs. 2 and 3. Suice it here to say that a valve within this valve chest 7 is provided with a stem 8 and is shifted by the movement of this stem 8 longitudinally.' It is normally held at one end of its range of movement by a coiled spring 9, which as shown surrounds the stem, and is at proper time shifted in opposite direction by the swinging of a cam l0 upon its pivot. The cam is pivoted at one end to a Xed portion of the structure, and at the other end is pivotallyconnect'ed to the outer end of valve stem 8, as shown. The cam lO'is so disposed as to be engaged andl swung by the cage, when the cage in its movement in the shaft comes to the position where it is to be loaded or unloaded. `l/Vhen the cage comes to that position, the gate of course is to be opened. A stop 2 0 may be prol be. vSeen to be composed essentially of two p elements or abutments 11 and 12, and being so composed there is formed within the valve chest a chamber cz. The fluid inlet to the valve chest, indicated by the numeral 6 Fig. 3, through which fluid under pressure (preferably steam) enters the valve chest from a suitable source of supply, is so situated, and the range of movement of the valve within the chest is so fixed and controlled, that at all times this inlet is open to chamber a. The fluid pressure outlet, 16, through which fluid under pressure passes to the gate-operating cylinder 8, is so situated that, when the valve is in its normal position (the position it assumes and maintains under tension of spring 9 to allo-w the gate to close and remain closed), communication is, so far as concerns gate operation, cut off; but when in respons@I to the movement of the cage in the shaft cam 10 is swung and (the tension of spring 9 being overcome) the valve is shifted, then the outlet 16 will be uncovered and open to chamber ct.

The valve preferably serves, not only to control the flow of fluid under pressure from the source of supply to the gate-operating cylinder, but also to control the escape of fluid under pressure from the gate-operating cylinder, that the gate may close by gravity Vwhen the cage moves from position adjacent the approach which gate 2 controls. To that end the valve chest is closed and a chamber b is formed beyond valve element 11 and between it and the closed end of the chest, and an escape orifice 14e (which may and ordinarily will lead to the open air) is formed in chamberV b. The passageway which establishes communication between the valve chest and the gate-operating cylinder and the escape orifice from chamber 5 to the open air are so arranged that, while normally and so long as the position of gate closure is maintained the Vgate-operating cylinder communicates through chamber b with the open air, as soon as the valve is shifted to effect opening of the gate that communication is cut off. Preferably communication between the valve chest and the gate-operating cylinder is through two pipe connections 16 and 17, both situated within the range of movement of valve element 11. When the parts are in the position shown in Figs. 2 and 3V (the position of gate closure) the gate-operating cylinder inder 3 to theV air and opens instead pipeV connection 16, from the source of fluid under pressure to cylinder 3. The arrangement is preferably such that the valve in its movement to gate-opening position will close pipe connection 17 before it uncovers pipe connection 16.

It will be apparent that the element 11 is the part of the valve which performs the proper ofiices or functions of a valve; and it will be understood by those acquainted with the art that the part or element 12 is a part which, other things being equal, will make or constitute the valve a balanced valve. It is a feature of my invention to make this valve a balanced valve and as such freely responsive to the impulsion of spring and lever. The valve chest 7 is closed not at one end only but at both ends; thus the two-part valve divides the space within into three chambers, and the two end chambers are maintained in constant communication one with the other by a duct or passageway 13. r1`he communication which this passageway 13 affords insures at all times equality of pressure in theend chambers of the valve chest, and accordingly the intended movement of the valve will not be interfered with by accidental leakage of steam to the end chamber on the right (Fig. 3) nor by any otherwise disturbing circumstance.

In the valve element 11 will be seen a small duct 18. It will be observed of it that its size is relatively small, compared with the-size of the passageway 6. This passageway is so drilled in the valve element 11 that, even when the valve is in the position shown in Figs. 2 and 3 of gate closure, there will be a limited flow of fluid through the valve chest to the cylinder 3. The purpose of this flow of fluid even when the valve is closed is to keep the cylinder 3 warm and prevent the freezing of water condensed or collected within it, for ordinarily the installation will be in places where the apparatus will be exposed to freezing temperatures. The fluid employed will ordinarily be steam, but even if it be some othery fluid it may still have heating value for the end described or substantially that end. The fluid so passing through the duct 18 will be' insufficient in quantity to cause the piston 4 in cylinder 3 to move; a suitable narrow passageway forl fluid thro-ugh (20) or around (20a) piston twill be provided, and a suitable escape for this small flow of fluid through cylinder 3 will be provided, such as pipe 19, which as shown is open to the atmosphere. Thus there will be a small warming flow of fluid constantly circulating through the cylinder 3 during all the time that it is inactive. Cylinder 3 will preferably be arranged in the vertical position shown in'Fig. 1 and pipe 19 will open from its lower end and aord a drain for water condensed or collected within it.

Gorrelated with the provision just described of a passageway for the flow of a relatively small amount of fluid, even when the gate-operating mechanism is inactive, a weighted valve 15 is arranged in the outlet from chamber b of the valve chest to the open air. If this outlet were open, such fluid as passes through the narrow duct 18 (the parts being in the position shown in Fig. 3) would merely escape through pipe connection 17 and be ineffective to the ends described. But, by providing the weighted valve 15, a dam is established against such free escape of circulating. fluid, and pressure will mount up in the passages on the outlet side of the valve chest. It is only requisite that the weight upon valve 15 be' heavy enough to cause circulation of this small.

flow of fluid through cylinder 3; and this end is accomplished in the apparatus I have built (in which steam is the operating fluid) in so maintaining a steam pressure of half a pound.

The operation has been brought out in the foregoing description of the apparatus: a few words will suflice on this head. The parts as they are shown in the drawings are in the position of gate closure and the gate is shown to be closed. The valve is held in the position shown in Figs. 2 and 3, at the right-hand end of its range of movement, by the tension of spring 9. lVhile ,it stands in this position a small and warming flow of fluid is circulating from the source of supply or generation through the valve chest, through duct 18 in the valve, through the pipe connections, and through cylinder 3, whence it escapes. The weighted valve 15 is effective to maintain this circulating fluid at a maximum pressure in the cylinder ineffective to drive piston 4. Should that pressure be exceeded valve 15 will open and the pressure Abe relieved through pipe connection 17 and orifice 14. When a car moving in shaft 1 comes to the approach which gate 2 controls, it strikes' and swings cam 10 and, overcoming the resistance of spring 9, drives the valve 11, 12 to the left (Figs. .2 and 3). The valve in this movement first closes communica-tion through pipe connection -17 from cylinder 3 to the orifice 14 and immediately opens full and free communication from the source 0f fluid pressure (such as a steam boiler) through pipe connection 16 to cylinder 3. Thereupon piston 4 in cylinder 3 is shifted and gate 2 is opened, and the gate remains open so'long as cam 10 is retained in the position to which it has been swung. When the cage moves from its position at the approach to the shaft and releases cam 10, at once the valve is shifted by the tension of spring 9 to the right (Figs. 2 and 3), full and free communication fromthe source of fluid supply through pipe connection is out incidentally off, and communication is opened from the cylinder 3 through pipe connection 17 to the orifice 14 controlled by the weighted valve 15. The weight of the gate added to the vtension ,of the segregated body of fluid raises valve 15, and allows the fluid to esc-ape and the gate to descend. When the gate has descended and rests .on springs the valve 15 will close and will remain closed, unless the pressure in cylinder 3 due to the small flow through duct 18 shall become toogreat, in which case valve 15 will open and relieve the excess pressure.

I claim as my invention:

1. A motor apparatus including in combination a fluid-pressure motor, a fluid-pressure supply pipe leading to said motor, a valve in said supply pipe movable to alternate open and closed positions, and provision for a relatively small flow of fluid under pressure to the motor while said valve stands inclosed position.

2. A motor apparatus including in combination a fluid-pressure motor, a fluid-pressure supply pipe leading to said motor, a valve chest in said supply pipe, a valve movable in said valve chest and including two elements or abutments which when the parts are assembled form within the valve chest a pressure chamber, the said parts being so arranged that throughout the range of valve movement inlet from the supply pipe to the pressure-chamber is open while outlet from the pressure chamber through the supply pipe to the motor is alternately opened and closed, the said valve being provided with an orifice through which a relatively small flow of fluid is maintained while the outlet from the pressure chamber is closed to norl mal flow.

3. A motor apparatus including in combination a fluid-pressure motor, a fluid-pressure supply pipe leading to said motor, a valve chest in said supply pipe and a valve in said valve chest; said valve dividing the space within said chest into two chambers; one of said chambers being at all times open to the supply of huid-pressure through said supply pipe, the other of said chambers being provided with a weighted blow-olf, the said valve in the normal range of its movee ment bringing the two said chambers alternately into communication with said motor, together with provision for a relatively small flow of fluid under pressure to the motor Vwhile the said valve stands closed to normal supply.

4. A motor apparatus including in combination a vertically arranged fluid-pressure tively small flow of Huid .under pressure through said cylinder While said valve stands in closed position.

5. A inotor apparatus including in combination a vertically arranged Huid-pressure Cylinder and a perforate piston movable therein, a'. fluid pressure supply pipe opening to said cylinder above said piston, a valveinovalole to open and closed positions 10 in said supply pipe, provision permitting a relatively small fiow'of liuid under pressure to said cylinder While said valve stands in closed position, and a drain opening from the lower end of said cylinder.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set Iny hand.

- CALVIN A. MILLER. Vitnesses:

IV. H. BECK, M. K. PETTY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents Veach, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

